By Mary Alice Murphy

The Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce held its monthly meeting at Bear Mountain Lodge on Thursday, June 1, 2017.

Faye McCalmont, at right, who manages cultural affairs for Western New Mexico University, spoke first about the upcoming Fiesta Latina.

"It can also be called economic development and cultural tourism," McCalmont said. "Creative people have brought people with their ideas. Many have moved here following participation in one of our cultural events."

The Fiesta Latina will take place at WNMU June 16-18, with music, flavors, dance, tequila tasting, hand-crafted items by artisans from Chiapas, Michoacán and Jalisco. "Many are women's cooperatives, where they support their villages through their handiwork."

The former Tre Rosat will have its food truck, called Duck Stop, with Latin flavors. "We will also have a large area for children's activities. From 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, for a $20 ticket, we will hold tequila tastings, where you will receive commemorative shot glasses. Tobias Rene will perform in front of Hunter Hall. For a schedule, visit fiestalatina.org. We are seeking sponsors for a brand stipend of $100, and we also need volunteers, especially bilingual ones."

Next to speak was Matt Geisel, at right, New Mexico Economic Development Department cabinet secretary.

"An important focus for my department is to get out on the road," Geisel said. "This is the first time I've been to Silver City. You're lucky to have Christine Logan as your economic development representative."

He also introduced Juan Torres, Finance Development director, who was traveling with him and Ryan Eustice of the Economic Development division, who is a New Mexican, went away to college and came back to his native state.

"Non-metro communities are important to us," Geisel said. "We have 'toolboxes' we can offer communities. We work to broaden and diversify economic development. We're pushing hard for diversification, which Gov. Susana Martinez has pushed for."

He said New Mexico has had to navigate three sets of headwinds—the 2010 recession, the federal sequestration and the bottoming out of the oil and gas prices. Intel, the largest private employer in the state has cut its workforce from 6,000 to about 1,500.

"Despite the massive challenges," Geisel said, "we've made headway. In April 2017, we were up 9,000 jobs in the private sector. We have added 16,000 jobs since 2011. I took the job and said I wanted to work on the forward momentum. During the special session, fortunately, we saw bipartisanship. They put $7 million into the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) and added to JTIP (Job Training Incentive Program)."

He said LEDA's discretionary funding has been statutory since the 1990s in New Mexico. "Gov. Martinez has been putting more money into LEDA. It makes us more nimble. JTIP we've had for more than 40 years. It is ranked high to build work force. As for the MainStreet program, we are in an environment when we are having fewer resources, but it will continue."

Geisel said he hears criticism that his department funds only metro areas, such as Albuquerque, "but 60 percent to 70 percent are non-metro projects. Ones like Facebook make the headlines, but we have some rural areas where the newspapers don't report what is happening in economic development. The toolbox is flexible to support expansion, particularly homegrown expansions. We ask ourselves are we augmenting? Are we accelerating and are we anchoring?"

During the past four years, 40 of the 70 LEDA projects have been in rural areas, including in Silver City, the Silco Theater and the Little Toad Brewery and Distillery. "We've seen a statewide 44 percent increase in job creation in the brewery and distillery space," Geisel said. "We've had regulation reform and have seen global growth in the industry. We have 80 breweries in New Mexico now."

He said manufacturing jobs in the state are up 2 percent. "We have targeted tax reform. We need a single sales factor to get rid of pyramiding. We also need important changes to put New Mexico on an equal basis with our surrounding states. A lot of New Mexico companies have expansion into other states, not only Rocky Mountain states, but also Southeastern states."

"My predecessor, Secretary Jon Barela, started the Rural Council," Geisel said. "Mark Roper heads it. Feedback has led to LEEDs (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is outside my department's purview. We are looking at liquor license reform. During the past legislative session, we made a modification to JTIP required residency, lowering it to one day, which will sunset in five years. We can help rural communities with high wage jobs, which have wages of $40,000 in rural areas, and $60,000 in metro areas. Two broadband bills passed. One makes broadband eligible for LEDA, as job creating. We also passed an open-trench law, making it no longer anti-donation for a government trench to be used by a telco to lay broadband lines.

"You are a great little community," Geisel said. "Your glass is more than half full. It's a real neat locale for outdoor manufacturers. We're here to help, but remember, the best ideas come from the bottom up."

He asked those attending his talk to think about tax reform, because the pyramiding of gross receipts tax hurts small businesses. "Without LEDA and JTIP, we could not compete with 35 states. We are just at the beginning of full funding for the next 3 ½ years."

Anita Williams, a retired resident, asked about the "mañana factor, with bureaucratic layers that delay projects. That doesn't encourage businesses."

"I come from the private sector," Geisel said. "Government is a regulatory body. The typical business life cycle is seven years. We also provide service in business advocacy. Once you know the process, you can move through it more easily. Preplan meetings and tell the advocates your obstacles. Joanna Nelson is in the Small Business Regulatory Agency. She will try to address issues a small business faces. We recognize it is a problem."

Tom Vaughan of FeVa Fotos said: "Like wind and solar, the state has significant geothermal resources. What are you doing about them?"

The Secretary of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources is taking a proactive approach on renewables to diversify. He's from the oil and gas sector, Geisel said.

Logan said the state is looking at opportunities for geothermal energy, such as greenhouses.

Ted Presler, resident, asked why New Mexico cannot draw tech people. "The answer I always receive is that broadband is needed. When will the laws go into effect?"

"Both go into effect July 1," Geisel said. "We're already supporting broadband. I think we have unique opportunities. A lot of companies want to get out of Silicon Valley, but need to determine how to move their functions out. Venture capital goes farther in New Mexico. We're getting on more radar screens. We talk about New Mexico Tech as the best-valued engineering school in the country. There is an artificial intelligence company in Rio Rancho, and another IT company with 30 people in Santa Fe."

County Assessor Raul Turrieta said he meets with Geisel on a monthly basis. "I will give a report at the Commission meetings."

Bruce Ashburn of PNM said the state of New Mexico is in financial difficulty. "It clawed back money from schools. The worst thing we can do is to stop advertising. How do we protect economic development funding?"

"Economic development is non-partisan," Geisel said. "It's still very important to express your support for economic development to your local and state representatives. Call me if you have a question about an economic development project."

He referred to Facebook coming to New Mexico. "Los Lunas had a large landowner, transmission capacity and the company wanted to be 100 percent renewable. No. 1 is for us to have a can-do attitude. It started with the governor knocking on the Facebook door in Silicon Valley."